Wingless Dove
by Yhissle
Summary: Follows Dove Bronzewing and the rest of team CRDL as they deal with the realization that they can't make it through Beacon alone.
1. Chapter 1

**Just wanted to say that this is my first fanfic, so any criticism and advice would be welcome :)** **Rated M in case i decide to put sex stuff in later.**

* * *

"And then i smashed the ursa into tiny little PIECES!" Nora practically screamed in Jaune's ear, effectively waking him from his daydream.

It was hard to get anything from her ridiculous stories without Ren to correct all of the many inaccuracies in them.

'Is that even possible?' the blonde thought to himself as he stared at the hyperactive girl as she took another bite from her candy bar.

Pyrrha and Ren had been gone after the school forced each team to send two of their members on a trip to a forest or something like that. Jaune could hardly remember anything about the assignment due to an ill advised nap during said lecture.

The assignment was designed to teach students to work in smaller groups than their larger four man teams. Unfortunately this had resulted in quite a lot of boredom for many of them.

"Hey, something up Jaune?" Nora stared at the detached teen with concern.

"Huh" Jaune mumbled as his gaze drifted from his ginger teammate to the old fashioned bench they sat on, then to the courtyard around them. Many of the students became bored due to the lack of half of their teams and many had quickly left.

Ruby and Blake had said they were going to the cafeteria for some food and would be back soon. And around an hour had passed so Jaune could only assume they had gone to their dorm. The two weren't used to spending time together without their teammates and was clearly making things difficult for them.

Dove and Sky, the two remaining members of team CRDL left without uttering a single word to their classmates.

"Sorry I'm just thinking..." Jaune mumbled quietly.

'They really have been distant lately' Jaune thought as he reflected on the times that they had bullied him and many of the other students.

Things seemed to be looking up after the incident where Jaune saved Cardin's life in forever falls when Cardin's own teammates abandoned him. But as rumors would have it, Cardin had turned his violence towards his own team. Jaune's thoughts wandered back to how badly they had acted as a team during their fight with Pyrrha and how Cardin took hi own teammate out just to gain leverage for a hit. He actually felt sorry for them, if it wasn't for Jaune's team, for Nora, Ren and Pyrrha, Jaune never would have made it at Beacon. He could hardly imagine what it's like to have the people you rely on the most turn their backs on you. Then again, maybe it was just a taste of their own medicine?

"Have you... heard the rumors about Cardin?" Jaune asked the Nora in a serious tone.

"Yeah" Nora sighed, it seemed as though she shared the same viewpoint as him as not much was usually enough to remove her usual happy and careless attitude.

But if experience had taught Jaune anything, it was that Nora would be back to her joyous self quickly enough.

"OH, did I tell you about the time me and Ren fought off an army of Grimm with no weapons?!" she shrieked.

'Yep, back to 'normal'' Jaune sighed to himself.

* * *

After listening to Nora ramble long enough to drive any average man insane, Jaune came to the conclusion that he needed to take a walk. Nora, with nothing else to do, joined him in his stroll around the outside of Beacon Academy.

Jaune took a deep breath and let his eyes explore. The leaves had begun to bronze and fall from the trees, signaling the beginning of autumn. It was both a sad and beautiful sight. Stone statues stood tall in beacon's courtyards. Before Jaune could take in any more of the sight's, he was distracted by Nora.

"Hey look Jaune, one of Cardin's guys" Nora half whispered as she pointed at a figure sat down.

"Is that... Dove?" Jaune stared at a figure sat leaning forward on a bench.

Dove sat on an old fashioned bench identical to the one Jaune and Nora had been occupied earlier.

"He's sleeping!" Nora snorted, as she tried to subside her giggling.

"You sure?" Jaune questioned as he stared at the sleeping boy.

"Let's test him out" Nora chuckled as she picked up a rock from the grass.

"Nora maybe tha-" Jaune was cut off as she sent the rock hurtling towards Dove's head with enough power to decapitate a beowolf.

Jaune waited for the impact and scream of surprise. instead, Dove's head shined a bright bronze and the rock bounced off harmlessly.

"I missed!" Nora gasped at Dove as he looked over at the pair and gave an all too familiar sneer, it made Jaune regret ever feeling sorry for them.

Jaune froze as the other blonde got up from his seat and approached the pair, a mixture of anger and annoyance present on his face. Jaune took comfort in the thought that the teen in question was in the schools uniform instead of his battle gear and would likely be without his weapon.

"What was that for" He questioned the pair with an increasingly angry tone. Eyeing the two of them over.

A bead of sit slowly rolled down Jaune's face as he tried to think of a response.

"Uuhhhh.. accident?" Jaune squeaked in a manner that even a mouse faunus would be inclined to point and laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

**I apologize for any errors in spelling as I am being forced to use notepad until I find a good writing software. I'm still trying to decide whether I want the story to focus on Dove nearly completely or on all of CRDL more equally. Also updates will be irregular as crap because school and all that lame stuff.**

Boring.

So damn boring.

Sky had ditched Dove and opted to go to his dorm and listen to music. Dove had stayed outside, deciding he needed time to relax and clear his mind. 5 minutes in and he was already regretting his decision.

Dove rested his eyes and tried not to focus on anything but the warm fresh air, this was met with no success, so instead he began to think. He thought about the school, the teachers, his weapon, his armour, his friends... did he even have any friends? Could he really list his team down as people he was friends with?

His team. CRDL was as close as it gets to average. They sat above most other teams but weren't even in the same league as teams like RWBY or JNPR. It made Dove chuckle thinking about how they had bullied Jaune, when his team would have been able to break all of CRDL's legs 10 times over.

Thinking about Jaune made Dove's thoughts race back to forever falls. How they had carelessly left their weapons in a pile even though Goodwitch had told them about the grimm inhabiting the forest. He thought about how he ran when the ursa came, not even looking back for his leader, he just ran. What's worse was he heard that Jaune was the one who saved Cardin from the beast. The boy Cardin bullied saved him, instead of his own team. Due to this CRDL had made it an unspoken rule to stay away from JNPR and RWBY unless provoked.

If Jaune, the boy who faked his way into Beacon, was a better huntsman than Dove, what good was he?

'Better not think like tha-' Dove's thought process was interrupted by a rock speeding towards him.

With no time to dodge it, he activated his aura. The rock bounced off the side of his head and rolled across the stone ground.

'Close one' Dove thought as he looked around for where the projectile had come from.

"I missed" He heard a feminine voice gasp.

Turning to look at the source of the voice, Dove instantly regretted coming outside even more than before.

Jaune Arc and... was it Nora Valkyrie? Something like that. They both stood in one of the small grass area's in the garden and stared at him with varying expressions. Nora was one of shock that her rock hadn't hit him, and Jaune's was one embarrassment and what looked like fear.

Dove sighed. He put on a sneer that had slowly evolved into his default expression in his time at Beacon as he made his way to the pair.

He reached the pair and crossed his arms, slowly becoming more and more annoyed, partly because one of them had thrown a rock at him and partly because of his obligation to leave JNPR alone.

"What was that for?" Dove grunted.

'As soon as this is over I'm going back to the dorm, I can't stand it out her' Dove thought as he stared at the blonde boy.

Jaune was visibly sweating as he stuttered to come up with a good response to Dove's question. Dove saw Jaune nervously look over to the ginger girl next to him.

'So it was _her_ ' Dove sniffed, still staring at them.

Just as he was getting ready to give up and walk away, Jaune lifted his shoulders sheepishly.

"Uuuhhh... accident?" The blonde squeaked.

Dove simply stared at Jaune for about 10 seconds. Surprise and anger filled him as he thought about the terrible excuse. Dove prepared himself for the beginning of an argument that could quickly turn into something much worse.

But before he could say anything, Dove's mind began to wander to the aftermath of forever fall...

* * *

Teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL all sat in the airship headed back to Beacon. Apart from earlier compliments towards Jaune for beating the ursa from his friends, the airship was silent. All the students were forced to listen to the dull hum of the airship as it flew across the vast expanse of Remnant.

Glynda Goodwitch was furious. She had never been overly fond of team CRDL due to their antics, but this was something else. She didn't look at them like they were students any more. She looked at them with disappointment... disappointment and hate. She tried to mask it of course, as would be necessary of a teacher when dealing with students but Dove could see it and if his teammates faces were anything to go by, they could tell too.

This was the first time at Beacon that Dove had actually felt like shit for doing something, he didn't really care about Cardin's bullying, especially when it came to faunus. 'They're not human after all' Dove thought.

But this was something else, Dove didn't feel right about the rapier wasps or any of it. But he wasn't going to go against Cardin and his team.

Every time a member of team CRDL made eye contact with another one of the students in the hull of the aircraft, they were met with faces of hostility and even loathing. Even the usually calm Lie Ren glared at them with an intense resentment. Everyone glared.

Except Jaune, every time his eyes met with Dove's there was always this cautious stare. And then a look of pity.

Jaune _Fucking_ Arc was giving him a look of pity. Every time he got this stare he turned on his ever so familiar sneer. Then Dove's gaze drifted to the boy's partner, Pyrrha Nikos, a look of fierce disgust present on her face. Even with that look on her face he couldn't help but admire her beautiful vivid green eyes.

Dove looked down and waited for the stinging feeling in his heart to fade. He couldn't get stuck up on someone like Pyrrha Nikos just because she was hot, not to mention she hated him and his entire team.

The rumbling and shifting of the airship meant that they had arrived back to the welcoming arms of Beacon Academy.

What a fucking joke.

CRDL was the final team to exit, so most of the others didn't notice Cardin shove Sky off the airship. Dove felt for Sky a little, he was almost like Cardin's second hand man, this was bad.

Despite his antagonistic nature, Cardin had never lashed out at his team before, sure they had argued before, but it only ever ended in small bickering matches. Dove sighed, things were going to change.

Just as he thought his day couldn't get any worse, he saw it one last time, that look of pity from Jaune Arc as he walked away with his happy team, probably off to make pancakes or something.

* * *

Dove stared at Jaune, his look of anger slowly dissipating into a blank stare.

"Whatever, doesn't matter" Dove spoke as matter-of-factly as he could.

He made his way to the school gardens' exit, leaving Jaune and Nora to stare at each other with equally confused faces, though Jaune was convinced Nora was more confused about how she had already ran out of candy bars.

"So... That was interesting" Jaune was the first to speak.

"I thought he was gonna start a fight" Nora spoke in a voice that sounded awfully like disappointment.

Jaune hoped it was just him imagining that.

Dove needed to do something, anything to get his mind off of Jaune and his friends. He roamed the halls of Beacon, beautiful architecture graced the building but Dove was to busy to even notice.

He reached the door to his teams room. Music blaring from inside the room. He wouldn't have to deal with Cardin since he would be out on the trip to the forests near Frost-more Mountain, a well know mountain infested with nevermore. It was an assignment meant to teach students the importance of being able to work well with each of their team mates and to work in smaller groups.

Team CRDL didn't work like that, each member had a lot of individual skill and talent but their inability to work properly as a team was a massive downside.

Dove realised he had been staring at his door for too long and decided to enter the dorm. He was met with a wave of rock music loud enough to make his ear drums bleed.

"Dude, turn the music down" Dove could hardly hear himself.

"Oops, sorry" Sky said as he twisted the sound knob on his speakers.

Sky Lark lay on his bed in his t-shirt and school trousers. His scroll lay on his bed next to him.

Team CRDL's room was a mess. Clothes littered the floor as empty wrappers covered to two desks.

They had been lucky enough to get a room much lager than those of the other students, which meant they were able to install a TV and sound system that Sky's uncle had gotten them.

Sky had lived with his aunt and uncle for his entire life, his mother died when he was 1 and he never knew his father. He treated his aunt and uncle like parents and they treated him like a son, so Sky had a fairly good childhood.

"So, were you able to clear your head.. or whatever" Sky said, he may be a joker but he did still show small amounts of compassion towards his team.

"No, opposite" Dove grumbled, scanning the room.

"What happened?" sky inquired curiously.

"Jaune Arc happened" Dove groaned as he brushed a hand through his hair.

"Oh..."Sky stared at Dove, hoping to hear more.

"Every time I see him he's always giving me this look" Dove murmured finally finding what he had been searching for.

Walking over to his bed, he lifted a shirt that he wasn't even sure belonged to him. Beneath was a set of bronze armour and a short-sword. He began to put on the armour.

"What are you doing? Combat classes are off" Sky asked with a yawn.

"Gonna do some training" Dove grunted as he adjusted his shoulder pad.

Dove stuck his sword into his belt, waved goodbye to his team mate and left.

Sky waved back to his team mate as he left. Once Dove was gone he lay back with a concerned look on his face as he stared at the blank ceiling.

"I hope he doesn't overwork himself"


	3. Chapter 3

**I've decided that there wont be any sex stuff in my fic ( I find it weird to read and would probably find it difficult to write properly). I will be keeping the M rating because of stuff like violence and swearing.**

Dove ambled through the surprisingly vast halls of Beacon (it would be easy to find yourself wandering unless you had a specific destination), his armour shifted quietly as he made his way to the training rooms.

He realised that there wasn't a single part of Beacon that wasn't magnificent, even the simpler dorm rooms had their own uncomplicated beauty to them. Dove stared at the ceiling as he walked.

*thud*

Dove wasn't expecting the sudden contact and was caught off balance, he slipped to the floor in a less-than-stylish manner.

He looked to see what he had bumped into. A small girl with long straight blonde hair had crashed into him, he was readying himself to apologise to the girl (how she was old enough to be in Beacon, he did not know) but he was stopped when he noticed the pair of white rabbits ears on her head, he began to feel a small sickness as he stared at the girl (if she could even be called that).

Memories of his team bullying that other rabbit faunus from the year above them filled his mind, what her name? Violet? She sounded like she was from Vacuo. Something like that. He remembered the way Cardin grabbed her ears and twisted them as he, Russel and Sky laughed at her pain and suffering.

They laughed at her pain and suffering. This entire scene reminded Dove of a time he was out with his father, he had seen a group of boys kicking a helpless dog in an alleyway. Dove remembered how this had made him sick to his stomach to the point of nearly being physically sick.

'How is what we were doing anything different?' Dove reflected.

"I'm sorry" His thoughts were interrupted by the apology of the small girl.

She began to pick herself up self-consciously, nearly slipping and falling a second time. Dove simply watched instead of helping her up, already knowing what was about to happen.

"I was rushing to my dorm an-" She let out a girlish gasp as she stared at him, finally realising who she had bumped into.

"Y-you're one of C-Cardin Winchesters friends... I-I'm so sorry" She spluttered as she stared in fear, the last faunus to bump into Cardin nearly had one of his fingers broken.

None of his team mates where around. Dove could have a bit of fun with this faunus (just like those boys with the dog)... or he could leave.

He stared intently at the little faunus with a plain face and opened his mouth slightly.

"Sorry for bumping into you"

He began walking away from the girl without even turning back. He could hear the sigh of surprise and relief from the girl as she sped down the hallways in hope that he wouldn't change his mind. He felt a jolt of satisfaction as he started far the training rooms once more. After the initial positivity he felt though, he began to feel a pang of unexplained discomfort.

If he was with his team there was no doubt that they would have been pulling on her ears or pushing her over, but he didn't do that when the choice was his alone. Dove had never gone out of his way to bully people, even faunus but always followed Cardin whenever he did, perhaps it was his desire to fit in, or to make others like him.

'Well, that worked well for you didn't it?' Dove scoffed at himself.

His thoughts about he and his team stopped when he arrived at the training rooms. The room was big and had many doors leading to multiple other training areas, a large amount of Beacon was made up of training areas due to the massive demand from both students and teachers alike.

The room was a perfect rectangle, the walls and floor were a dull grey with a shining blue grid etched all across the room. There was a large panel on the wall, Dove made his way over to it and began typing his information in.

Student Name: Dove Bronzewing

Team: CRDL

Student ID: 1228-HECTOR

He then began to flick through the settings, selecting the default 3 Beowolfs and leaving the level blank. His hand hovered over the button to initiate the training procedure. Instead he went back to the settings menu and changed them, beginning the training.

"Enemy: Ursa Major. Level: Forever Falls" A female robotic voice announced.

Dove watched the wonders of technology as the ever so familiar red forest materialised around him. Petals fell delicately from the tall trees. The image framed a gorgeous pink sky. Dove would have found the sight awe striking had it not reminded him of what happened with Jaune and the Ursa.

"Session beginning in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

A loud rustling coming from a large bush in front of Dove indicated where the ursa would come from. Dove readied himself. His hand grazing his sword as he stared sharply. He looked at the clock on his scroll. 19:15

"No more than an hour" He whispered to himself as the Ursa made it's way out the bushes to confront him.

 **Sorry this took so long and isn't very good, I was finding it quite hard to find motivation and ideas for this chapter, the next one should be a lot better though.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Just wanted to say sorry about the quality of the previous chapter's quality, I'm hoping that this one will be a lot better. Also sorry about how long it's taking to bring out each chapter, exams n' shit. Sorry that I suck at writing combat, this is my first time doing this.**

 **Buy the way if I use (') instead of (") during dialogue, it means it's a thought.**

 **I don't own RWBY.**

Dove stared at the large beast as it's corrupt red eyes glared back at him, it was a lot smaller than the major he had fled from in the real forever falls. Everything around him seemed fake, almost too clean and smooth to be real.

The ursa roared at him as it remained stationary, seeming to wait for him to act, instead he stood still, cautiously removing his sword from his belt.

Seemingly angered by his lack of movement, the beast made the first move, leaping at him with it's claws ready to attack. It made a gut wrenching howl as it swiped both claws, intent on killing him quickly.

Dove dodged the swing and jumped backwards, raising his sword he fired several shots from the hip, each connecting with the ursa's head, it stumbled back, but simply growled as it began it's next attack.

Going for a different approach it kept low as it charged and made a swipe at Dove's feet, he stumbled back and it made another swipe aimed at his chest, Dove flipped back, briefly landing on his hand and then flipping onto his feet.

He clutched his sword tightly as he waited. The ursa charged once again, raising it's upper body it readied itself for a massive slam attack.

Dove opened his eyes slightly as he stared at the ursa. He dived away quickly and narrowly dodged it's massive slam. He tried not to be blown back by the force of the blow, the ursa raised it's head in confusion, trying to find it's target. Using this opportunity, Dove sprinted at the beast and with all the force in his arms, shoved his sword into the beasts neck, firing several shots into it's flesh as it howled in agony.

Dove retracted his sword as the beast fell to the floor in a heap of black fur, after a few seconds it's corpse began to dissolve.

'Just like real Grimm' Dove grimaced.

"Training session completed" The female voiced boomed once again.

"Aura loss: minimal"

"Difficulty level: 4"

"Performance rating: A"

Dove wasn't going to allow himself to be fooled by the rating, you could go up against a baby beowolf and still get an A rating.

'See, it's not that hard' he smiled to himself

"Would you like to go again?" The voice questioned.

Dove looked at the clock on the wall. _Wow_.

'Already 15 minutes?' he thought as his attention drifted to the training battle.

"Only here for an hour" He mumbled to himself once again as he pressed a large button on the screen.

"Restarting training in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

Dove breathed heavily as the ursa fell before him. His damp blonde hair clung to his sweaty forehead, his stance was off and his arms hung by his sides. He stared at his scroll and groaned when he read the the time, 21:30.

"Training sessions completed: 7"

"Aura loss: major"

"Difficulty level: 4"

"Performance rating: C-"

"Warning: Do not continue training"

Dove wanted to scream as he heard his results and by how much his performance had dropped. He had always been one to take training and classes very seriously. He sluggishly made his way to the training panel to restart the training, but was instead met with a message. 'Warning, aura levels in red, critically low, cease training immediately and rest'. Dove grunted angrily as he stared at the screen.

After a moment of silent thinking he disregarded the warning and began to enter Sky's information in to the database.

Student Name: Sky Lark

Team: CRDL

Student ID: 0616-LAUFEY

Dove didn't bother changing the settings. The room remained as it was and three beowolfs slowly began to materialize in front of him.

'Just a couple of beowolfs' he smirked confidently

One charged as the other two held back. It's attack was clumsy and Dove easily side stepped it and slashed his sword down the back of it's raven-black neck, it stumbled forward and fell to the ground.

Seemingly angered by this, the other began it's assualt, Dove fired his pistol enough to bring one to it's knees, he began to change his stance and readied himself to slash the other as it came closer.

'It's just a beowolf' he thought

*Crack*

Dove felt a sharp pain in his ankle as he put pressure on it to assume his stance, the sudden pain caused him to loose his balance.

He glared upwards to see the beowolf mere feet away from him. In the split second before it could dig it's claws into his face, he stuck his sword arm in front of his face. The sharp white claws scratching his vambrace to the point of making gashes in it, the force of the blow sent him flying backwards.

He shakily got up from the floor and checked for the enemy, his vision was blurry but he was able to spot the beowolfs, the one he had previously incapacitated had gotten up and had rejoined the other.

Dove's blood began to boil as he stared at the two black shadows in front of him. The way those red eyes stared back like he nothing more than food. How could he be losing to a beowolf?

"AARRGHH" Dove charged at the beowolfs, effectively taking them by surprise.

Slicing the head off of one and then stabbing the other in it's stomach all in one fluid motion. The first fell to the floor and evaporated while the other screamed in pain in an eerily human manner. Dove silenced it by shoving his sword down it's throat after tearing it out of the creatures stomach.

"Training session com..." Dove tuned the mechanical voice out as he stumbled lifelessly towards the panel towards the panel.

He felt a hot burning feeling in his ankle every time he took a step, as if it would explode if too much pressure was applied.

He rested his hand on the panel as he went to restart the session for what felt like the thousandth time, the time limit he had set himself had completely abandoned his thoughts.

"Hey!" A voice brought him out of his thoughts.

'Oh for Fu-'

"Maybe you should stop training.. you don't look so good" He turned to see who it was, even though he already knew exactly who was talking.

Team JNPR stood staring at him, each with varying degrees of surprise and astonishment evident on their faces.

'Great...these guys' Dove felt like jumping out a window.


	5. END

**SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS seriously spoilers.**

 **So, RWBY Volume 3... Pyrrha's death kind of spoiled this entire fic for me, which actually came as a surprise to me since I was almost certain that she would die coming into this volume, so I thought I would be able to handle it. I lost interest in writing this story and have only made a few attempts at even writing anything, I managed about 500 words worth of crap at best. The reason though, isn't just because of the recent turn of events in RWBY, it was also because I wasn't ready to take on something that I new could span anywhere from 20 to 30 chapters (or even more). I apologise for this, I'm going to give myself a month or two of writing smaller stories (mostly CRDL related) and maybe I will come back to this. Until that happens (if it does), just assume that this story is dead.**

 **Sorry about that.**


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